Euromines Annual Report 2017 “Mined in Europe, Made in Europe” is now available.

The mining sector is improving in all areas of the industry and shows many signs of moving past previous hardships and into a bright future. In this report, you will find information about how Euromines is helping the mining industry remain competitive and secure. There is a section devoted to safety and sustainability in employment as well as one that centers on innovations taking place in the industry. Finally, the report addresses environmental efforts and projects improving energy and resource efficiency.

The publication is aimed at environmental professionals working in, or with, extractive industries and financial institutions, who are responsible for overseeing the application of the mitigation hierarchy to biodiversity conservation, while balancing conservation needs with development priorities. The cross-sector approach  was essential in building an understanding about what good practice looks like.

The publication can be downloaded from the CSBI website [http://www.csbi.org.uk/tools-and-guidance/]

National minerals policies that ensure security of supply of important raw materials and ensure the sustainability of the extractive operations as well as their products are crucial to economic policies.

Therefore it is important that each country has such a policy and ensures that it includes considerations and objectives of other relevant policies, such industrial and trade, environment energy and climate change policies, health and safety and consumer protection policies, as well as regional development and employment policies.  However, it is also important that raw material policies are not jeopardised by uncoordinated policy making in the afore-mentioned areas. 

And whilst it is important to update and modernise  raw materials policies and adapt them to developments of the country it should be noted that raw material investments are long-term investments and therefore are sensitive to frequent, quick and unpredicted  changes.

The four most important elements:

I.    State strength
A state which is legitimate and capable at all levels (national, regional, and local). 
A government whose policy decisions are credible and broadly accepted and an administrative apparatus that can implement these.

II.    Limits to state strength 
Institutional checks and balances that support the legitimacy of government and the administrative apparatus, and guard against abuse of state power at all levels (national, regional, local).

III.    Compatibility of formal and informal rights, institutions and rules
Legitimacy of formal economic institutions guarding essential necessities of a stable economy (exchange rate, fiscal sustainability).

IV.    Technical capacity of the public sector and decision makers at all levels

Sustainable community development programs are those that contribute to the community’s longterm development needs and priorities and ensure a fairer distribution of the costs, benefits, risks and responsibilities associated with mining activities. 

Investment is a leading source of economic growth, job creation, infrastructure, competition, international trade and innovation. Countries with a high level of investment systematically achieve higher levels of development in more sustainable ways. A central question among policy makers is therefore how to enhance investment? Bearing in mind that investment is triggered and influenced by a multitude of factors, and that international investment agreements (IIAs) are not substitute for long-term and comprehensive improvements towards a transparent, rules-based pro-business policy environment, they do play a fundamental role by providing an additional layer of security to foreign investors. Thus, they can be an important factor for host countries to attracting more foreign direct investments (FDI), both in quantity and quality. 

One of the most visible economic impacts of mining/quarrying operations on a community is the employment that it generates. 
Employment is generated through the creation of jobs within the mining/quarrying operation itself, for instance during the exploration, mining/quarrying and closure/rehabilitation phases. These jobs are directly related to the mining/quarrying operation. However, there are jobs created outside of the ‘gates’ of a mining/quarrying operation. These are a result of the building of roadways to reach the mine/quarry, the construction of new homes for mines/quarries and their families, and the businesses required to service the families for instance.
The objective is to calculate the total employment generated by the operation

The objective of CETA is to increase bilateral trade and investment flows and contribute to growth in times of economic uncertainty. This is in line with the Europe 2020 strategy to boost growth through external competitiveness and the participation in open and fair markets worldwide. To this end, the EU and Canada achieved the ambitious agreement they wanted, opening up new trade and investment opportunities for economic actors on both sides of the Atlantic. Both sides have also underlined the importance that economic activity takes place within a framework of clear and transparent regulation by public authorities, and that they consider the right to regulate in the public interest within their territories as a basic underlying principle of the Agreement. The EU and Canada are resolved to preserve their ability to achieve legitimate policy objectives, such as public health, safety, environment, public morals and the promotion and protection of cultural diversity.

This paper captures some of the emerging consensus points that came out of the workshop “Mineral Resources in Life Cycle Impact Assessment: Mapping the path forward”, held at the Natural History Museum London on 14 October 2015: that current practices rely in many instances on obsolete data, often confuse resource depletion with impacts on resource availability, which can therefore provide inconsistent decision support and lead to misguided claims about environmental performance. Participants agreed it would be helpful to clarify which models estimate depletion and which estimate availability, so that results can be correctly reported in the most appropriate framework. Most participants suggested that resource availability will be more meaningfully addressed within a comprehensive Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment framework rather than limited to an environmental Life Cycle Assessment or Footprint.

Supporting publications from The United States Geological Survey and Leiden University are also freely available in the same Special Issue of the journal "resources":
(http://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/5/1/14, http://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/5/1/16)

At the beginning of the SUPRIM project, there was no global consensus on the assessment of impacts from the use of abiotic resources (minerals and metals), in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). Unlike with other impact categories such as global warming, there is not just one single, explicitly agreed-upon problem arising from the use of abiotic resources. The topic is complex and new methods are still being developed, all with different perspectives and views on resource use. For this reason, the SUPRIM project initiated a consensus process together with members from the research and mining communities, with the aim to obtain an understanding of different stakeholders’ views and concerns regarding potential issues resulting from the use of resources. This paper reports on this consensus process and its outcomes. Insights from this process are twofold: First, the outcome of the process is a clear definition of the perspectives on abiotic resources which form the starting point to further refine or develop LCIA methods on abiotic resource use. Second, the process itself has been a challenging but valuable exercise, which can inspire the evolution of other complex issues in life cycle impact assessment, where research communities face similar issues as experienced with abiotic resources (e.g. water and land use, social LCA, etc.).